2022
POETRY OPEN
First Prize
$1,000 Award
A MOMENT
CAUGHT IN TIME
by Joanne Jagoda
Early 1930s, Hamburg Germany.
Handsome twins; tall, dapper, in well-tailored suits,
strolling on a busy city street,
flanking their beaming mother;
the one with a walking stick, my father.
She is bursting with pride; it’s obvious.
Her face, lovely, sculpted.
Even amused passersby watch them posing,
so guileless, innocent, sweet.
But if a prescient fortune teller could have read their cards that day,
they could not have imagined what lay ahead for them.
The sons would make their way to America,
even becoming US Army soldiers, eventually businessmen,
marry and have families.
Their beloved mother would be deported to Terezin,
then transported to Auschwitz on a spring day, May 15, 1944,
sent to the gas chambers on arrival.
I study this photo, my singular remembrance
of this noble woman, my grandmother,
who never held me in her arms,
cuddled me on her lap,
sang me lullabies about ducks and geese,
or sat at my school plays or graduations.
I try to memorize every tiny detail of her photo,
carefully preserving her in my mind and heart,
but all I can do is see that day for what it was,
no more no less,
just a perfect moment in time . . .
a mother strolling with her handsome sons.
______________________________
Joanne Jagoda is a longtime resident of the Oakland Hills. After retiring in 2009, she found creative inspiration at a Lakeshore Writers workshop. Her short stories, poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in numerous online journals and print anthologies including Quillkeepers Press, The Awakenings Review, The Deronda Review, Dreamers Magazine, Passager, Better After 50, Project Healthy Love (Riza Press), Persimmon Tree Magazine, and Still You, Poems of Illness and Healing. Joanne received a Pushcart Prize nomination and has won a number of contests, including the Benicia Love Poetry competition. Her first book of poetry, My Runaway Hourglass, conceived while she was home sheltering-in-place, was published in summer of 2020 by Poetica Publications. She enjoys spoiling her seven grandchildren, who call her Savta. Joannejagoda.com
Joanne Jagoda is a longtime resident of the Oakland Hills. After retiring in 2009, she found creative inspiration at Lakeshore Writers Workshop. Her short stories, poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in numerous online journals and print anthologies including Quillkeepers Press, The Awakenings Review, The Deronda Review, Dreamers Magazine, Passager, Better After 50, Project Healthy Love (Riza Press), Persimmon Tree Magazine, and Still You, Poems of Illness and Healing. Joanne received a Pushcart Prize nomination and has won a number of contests, including the Benicia Love Poetry competition. Her first book of poetry, My Runaway Hourglass, conceived while she was home sheltering-in-place, was published in summer of 2020 by Poetica Publications. She enjoys spoiling her seven grandchildren, who call her Savta. Joannejagoda.com